5 things you need to know on Friday

Jan. 31, 2014
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Worshipers burn incense and pray at the Wong Tai Sin Temple to welcome the Year of the Horse in Hong Kong. Tens of thousands of worshipers flocked to temples to pray for good luck and fortune for the new year. / Philippe Lopez, AFP/Getty Images

by Editors, USA TODAY

by Editors, USA TODAY

It's the Year of the Horse on China's traditional calendar and celebrants will wish for peace and happiness for the next 15 days. However, customary fireworks displays were slightly muted Thursday night due to government campaigns against pollution, waste and corruption.

If you watch the Super Bowl just for the commercials, USA TODAY's Ad Meter is for you. Today is the last day to sign up to vote on all the commercials from after the coin-toss through the end of regulation. Anyone can sign up! In 2013, more than 15,000 people voted, deciding the best and worst of the ads.

NASA remembers

NASA will pay will tribute to the crews of Apollo 1 and space shuttles Challenger and Columbia. This week marks the anniversary of all three disasters.

How Kim's uncle really (reportedly) died

"He was shot to death," North Korea's ambassador to the U.K said of Jang Song Thaek's - uncle to Kim Jong Un - death. The ambassador was speaking in what may be the first English-language interview with a top Pyongyang official.